It is a relatively common occurrence that the pawl of a deck lid latch or of a liftgate latch of a vehicle once released from the engaged or latched position will immediately return to that position preventing the deck lid or liftgate from opening. This happens when there is weight e.g., the weight of snow, the weight of a person etc. on the deck lid or liftgate causing the latch once released to immediately re-engage. The same is true if the seals or pop-up of the lid or liftgate do not “pop-up”.
The releasing of the deck lid/liftgate can be accomplished by a person inside the automobile. Annoyingly that person does not know that the latch has not unlatched until he or she is outside of the vehicle trying to lift the lid or liftgate.
In the past, there have been latches with ratchet blocks to prevent the situation described above. However, these prior art blocks interact directly with the pawl resulting in pawl lock up problems. When these problems occur the ratchet cannot be held by the pawl in a position to positively engage the striker in which case the latch cannot properly latch and close the deck lid or liftgate.